Appearing in the regular "Shields and Brooks" segment of the PBS NewsHour on Friday, New York Times columnist David Brooks asserted that the Benghazi hearing this week yielded a "big nothingburger," and theorized that there is a "psychosis" around Republicans being "obsessed" with pursuing Clinton scandals.
After PBS host Judy Woodruff began the segment by wondering, "What did we learn? What was accomplished at this hearing?" the allegedly right-leaning columnist dismissively began:
Nothing was learned. We learned that Republicans can't stump Hillary Clinton. She was composed, gave a lot of the same testimony she's given before. This thing has been going on forever. And so nothing happened really. And so that's good news for her. Her composure was excellent. Congressmen do what Congressmen do. And so it was a big nothingburger.
Brooks described Republicans as "obsessed" as he added:
And why the Republicans remain obsessed with this at a time when the nation of Iraq has ceased to exist, Syria barely exists, there's turmoil spreading throughout the Middle East. If you want to attack Hillary Clinton, it seems to me she was Secretary of State at a time of deterioration of actual substantive grounds, maybe that would be the subject.
But there's a certain psychosis that goes through people's minds, especially about scandals, about Clinton scandals, where they, something smells, and they think there must be something big and they imagine there's about to be a big revelation that will destroy their careers, but, since 1991, that has never happened, and the critics have always overshot the mark and ended up helping the candidate. And that's what happened.
When Mark Shields got his turn, the liberal columnist asserted that Republicans "looked bad" and accused the Republican Party of being "incapable of accepting its governing responsibility." Shields:
The Republicans looked bad. Hillary Clinton looked disciplined. She showed remarkable stamina. She showed thorough preparation, and she never went for the bait. The bait was to get her to do what she had done in the previous hearing, to show exasperation by temper. And she came off it, to use an adjective, presidential. And I just think the Republicans ought to drop this and move on, but I think it's, I think it is symptomatic of a party that is incapable of accepting its governing responsibility.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, October 23, PBS NewsHour:
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Benghazi hearings, David. They went on -- I don't know that it was 11 -- but it was eight or nine hours of testimony. What did we learn? What was accomplished at this hearing?
DAVID BROOKS, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Nothing was learned. We learned that Republicans can't stump Hillary Clinton. She was composed, gave a lot of the same testimony she's given before. This thing has been going on forever. And so nothing happened really. And so that's good news for her. Her composure was excellent. Congressmen do what Congressmen do. And so it was a big nothingburger.
And why the Republicans remain obsessed with this at a time when the nation of Iraq has ceased to exist, Syria barely exists, there's turmoil spreading throughout the Middle East. If you want to attack Hillary Clinton, it seems to me she was Secretary of State at a time of deterioration of actual substantive grounds, maybe that would be the subject.
But there's a certain psychosis that goes through people's minds, especially about scandals, about Clinton scandals, where they, something smells, and they think there must be something big and they imagine there's about to be a big revelation that will destroy their careers, but, since 1991, that has never happened, and the critics have always overshot the mark and ended up helping the candidate. And that's what happened.
WOODRUFF: They have survived some challenges in the past, the Clintons. But, Mark, nothingburger? Is that what it adds up to?
MARK SHIELDS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: I would feel better if it were just the Clintons with the Republicans. I mean, I think this has been, for the past seven years, the Obama administration has been an obsession that, to prove not simply that the administration is not capable or efficient or effective, but that somehow it is evil, maybe even criminal.
And that's what was driving this Benghazi hearing, that somehow that there was some evil plot or evil scheme or diabolical whatever. I mean, the emphasis on Sid Blumenthal who was a confidant, long-time friend, controversial, a conspiracy buff, whatever else he is, but hardly somebody of Rasputin dimensions they wanted to elevate him to. In doing so, they were forced to go public with this hearing, which they didn't want to do. They looked bad.
WOODRUFF: Meaning the Republicans?
SHIELDS: The Republicans looked bad. Hillary Clinton looked disciplined. She showed remarkable stamina. She showed thorough preparation, and she never went for the bait. The bait was to get her to do what she had done in the previous hearing, to show exasperation by temper. And she came off it, to use an adjective, presidential. And I just think the Republicans ought to drop this and move on, but I think it's, I think it is symptomatic of a party that is incapable of accepting its governing responsibility.
